Day 4

Update below!

Hello all! It's 1:23 AM Paris time, and I am wiped. Today was as successful as yesterday was not. We took the metro and a train to Versailles for most of the day. Now there was an experience. Let me clue you in to the complexities of the Paris metro. Although pretty simple to use when moving in one direction, the story gets a new plot chock full of unpredictable conflicts when you have to change trains and speed through an underground station the size of Canada. When we first arrived at the Cadet station (which by the way is about a block from our hotel), the ticket lady answered our directional confusion with a small piece of paper with simple, easy to follow, translated directions.

From station CADET
to go to VERSAILLES CHATEAU
take direction MAIRIE D'IVRY VILLEJUIF
change at OPERA
take direction LIGNE 8 BALARD
change at INVALIDES
take direction RER C VERSAILLES
get off at VERSAILLES RIVE GAUCHE
As it is pretty late now, I'll have to pick this back up later.

Tomorrow we are going to get our possessions organized, attempt to visit the Museum d'Orse (again!), find a scarf, eat some street fruit, buy some Parisian yogurt, and be on a train to Italy at 6:00pm. It's a night train so I may not be able to post again until Friday, but I'll make up for lost time. I have had a lovely last night in Paris and I will tell you all about it soon.

ps: for those trying to post comments, I have it set so I have to approve them so they may not show up for a while (until I can get on to do so). If I don't have this setting turned on then blogger does not notify me when you comment so I miss them. This way I can make sure to see everything.

Also, I am posting pictures from yesterday tonight. Check ‘em out!


Quote of the day
"My grandma can walk all over Paris and never get tired"

Update:
Versailles was really something. The mansion was nice and all but what really got me was the gardens (or should I say 100 acre woods) in the back. There were trees and fountains with cobblestone walkways. everything was green and there was even some sheep. Marie Antonette's house in the back was so amazing, and all the flowers are in bloom. I took a load of pictures, so I'll let them do the talking.

I bought some souvineres in the gift shop. Two books for my friends (The best places to kiss in Paris, and one on the life and times of Marie Antonette.) We came back to town via metro and somewhere in the middle of our journey home we stopped at a small restraunt for dinner. I had some sort of toast thing with chicken, cheese, and tomatos. It was really something different. In adition to that, I had one escargot. Although not the worst of tastes, the texture was certainly not my favorite. Nanny felt the need to snap some pictures of this special occasion.

Around 10:30pm, we left the restraunt, and hitched a cab to the Chaunce de elisse. Most of the stores were closed but we had a good time window shopping. We made it up to the the Arc de Tromphe and (suprise) I took more pictures.

On to the Eiffle Tower! It was lit up in the night like a beacon for weary travelers. It blinks and shines on the hour after dark, and we made it there right before midnight. After "ooh"ing and "ah"ing at the tower de eiffle, it was time to go in search for the metro home. Someone pointed us in the right direction for the nearest metro, although I had my doubts, and in the dark we traveled by foot. There is a milatary school behind the tower that we had to maneuver around in persuit of our metro, and as it was dark in the first hours of the new day, the terrain was somewhat sketchy. But we made it alive and boarded our ride home. It was our last night in Paris and, in my opinion, it was well spent